as for the "jams"... i dont see how they can be big jams given the relatively small amount of time spent on each song.

now, i agree that song times don't equal awesome jams, but its a good indicator... i will be listening to last night here in about 10 minutes, so i'll know more soon... but IMO they have yet to "go off" as it were

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Much Respect(the other resident mac guy) [macbook air]"Good Funk, real funk is not played by four white guys from Vermont.. If anything, you could call what we're doing cow funk or something.."- Trey Anastasio

well i hope i don't fall into either of those categories.... i'm all for them being back, but lets not let the emotion of the moment cloud our judgement of the music.

i'm certainly encouraged, and ultimately more excited to see them at alpine, but they are far from the band of even 1999

I agree with you that some reality checking is in order. I believe that that check is in understanding that these shows cannot be put into any sort of historical order until we see how things develop over summer tour. Themes which may seem insignificant and trite now may develop into great things as time wears on.

In the meantime, I don't see anything wrong with enjoying the excitement of the moment with this understanding firmly in tow.

i kinda knew this was gonna happen, as my comments are certainly against the grain of popular opinion.

and i think it should be clearly noted that i'm excited as anyone here... more so than most probably... i've got a long and glorious history with the band, and they mean a whole lot to me... and i DO hope they succeed in making a full recovery to the glory days...

however, i feel it is my civic duty as a "phan" to listen with a critical ear and call it as i see it... and so far i see it as ok. again, not being there has a huge effect... if i were there i would probably be swept up in the emotion of it all and all the energy.

but i'm not, so i'm being more critical

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Much Respect(the other resident mac guy) [macbook air]"Good Funk, real funk is not played by four white guys from Vermont.. If anything, you could call what we're doing cow funk or something.."- Trey Anastasio

I agree with jedi here. Seems like these sets are packed with way too many songs. Looks banging on paper, and sure they certainly sound great too, but what I want to hear is the unknown. I'm sure they will eventually, but they haven't really attempted yet to get into that upper atmosphere of music.

They'll probably play Gamehendge tonight. That'll be fuckin awesome. But, as crazy as it sounds, I'd rather hear a 30 minute Jen Dances. Why? Because that'll be a mystery. And that's what I look for when I listen to Phish.

I agree with jedi here. Seems like these sets are packed with way too many songs. Looks banging on paper, and sure they certainly sound great too, but what I want to hear is the unknown. I'm sure they will eventually, but they haven't really attempted yet to get into that upper atmosphere of music.

They'll probably play Gamehendge tonight. That'll be fuckin awesome. But, as crazy as it sounds, I'd rather hear a 30 minute Jen Dances. Why? Because that'll be a mystery. And that's what I look for when I listen to Phish.

i agree 100%... they need to stretch that shit out! explore uncharted territory, put themselves out there... all that before i declare that they are back.

i also agree that a 30 min jenny dances would be tits!

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Much Respect(the other resident mac guy) [macbook air]"Good Funk, real funk is not played by four white guys from Vermont.. If anything, you could call what we're doing cow funk or something.."- Trey Anastasio

well i hope i don't fall into either of those categories.... i'm all for them being back, but lets not let the emotion of the moment cloud our judgement of the music.

i'm certainly encouraged, and ultimately more excited to see them at alpine, but they are far from the band of even 1999

I agree with you that some reality checking is in order. I believe that that check is in understanding that these shows cannot be put into any sort of historical order until we see how things develop over summer tour. Themes which may seem insignificant and trite now may develop into great things as time wears on.

In the meantime, I don't see anything wrong with enjoying the excitement of the moment with this understanding firmly in tow.

i kinda knew this was gonna happen, as my comments are certainly against the grain of popular opinion.

and i think it should be clearly noted that i'm excited as anyone here... more so than most probably... i've got a long and glorious history with the band, and they mean a whole lot to me... and i DO hope they succeed in making a full recovery to the glory days...

however, i feel it is my civic duty as a "phan" to listen with a critical ear and call it as i see it... and so far i see it as ok. again, not being there has a huge effect... if i were there i would probably be swept up in the emotion of it all and all the energy.

but i'm not, so i'm being more critical

I agree. I am a LONG time fan, and their music has meant more than I could possibly explain here.

This weekend is more about the event than the music. None of the jams I have listened to so far have soared. Trey's chops aren't back yet, and the entire collective improv. vibe isn't all there. However, they are practicing. They relearned a bunch of heavy material. Trey's tones is excellent. Page sounds GREAT! (Check Suzy!) We'll see what tonight brings, but I'm expecting more what we're looking for by this summer.

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If you listen too closely to the sound, you might miss the music. -Jim Henson

I agree with jedi here. Seems like these sets are packed with way too many songs. Looks banging on paper, and sure they certainly sound great too, but what I want to hear is the unknown. I'm sure they will eventually, but they haven't really attempted yet to get into that upper atmosphere of music.

They'll probably play Gamehendge tonight. That'll be fuckin awesome. But, as crazy as it sounds, I'd rather hear a 30 minute Jen Dances. Why? Because that'll be a mystery. And that's what I look for when I listen to Phish.

i agree 100%... they need to stretch that shit out! explore uncharted territory, put themselves out there... all that before i declare that they are back.

i also agree that a 30 min jenny dances would be tits!

i think trey's vision was to re-establish the foundation that built the band in the first place.....the hampton shows represent a starting point and I think the setlists reflect a new launchpad built on the solidity of their original, quirky, costume; i'm sure they'll try foam tonight and hopefully an epic Gin to start the 2nd set. I'm just glad they didn't show up and play a 30 minute Piper which was where Trey went to hide so often in '03 and '04 - i saw so many Pipers it makes my head spin........you have 20 minute Piper and a 15 minute Weekapaug which are so much the same tune........the fact they passed on the path of least resistence to bust out stuff they avoided after the first hiatus and were brave enough to do so after so much criticism at least shows me that they're not going to hold anything back, eventually.......after tonight they get 3 months to review this current weekend and focus on, hopefully, a blistering summer tour.

but hell yeah - i hope tonight they rock some phan's worlds.....and it is hard to have to get pumped over the same staples we've been listening to for 15+ years, but if it's the necessary evil required to get them past the brilliance of the fall '95/fall '97/Big Cypress zenith into new levels of passionate, well-executed, sonic bliss - I'm certainly willing to wait it out........but if we have this talk over a bowl at Alpine, Funk b/c nothing's changed, I know we'll both be pissed:)

I'm praying the show at the Fox in STL - the place i caught my first show in '94 - is something special and I'm hoping the Alpine shows are as great as they generally are, but really i too am hoping for something different as well. Or something at least on par with their best stretches.

wow - i've really missed acting like i know shit about anything regarding phish or how they think - good times are back indeed

i think trey's vision was to re-establish the foundation that built the band in the first place.....the hampton shows represent a starting point and I think the setlists reflect a new launchpad built on the solidity of their original, quirky, costume;

QFT

Think of this weekend as kind of like '90-'92, laying a foundation for the next phase of improv. So hopefully summer will be a new era to match '93-'95.

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Quote from: Trey Anastasio

But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.

i think trey's vision was to re-establish the foundation that built the band in the first place.....the hampton shows represent a starting point and I think the setlists reflect a new launchpad built on the solidity of their original, quirky, costume;

QFT

Think of this weekend as kind of like '90-'92, laying a foundation for the next phase of improv. So hopefully summer will be a new era to match '93-'95.

I agree with that, these setlists are definitly long and chock full of songs but it's not the funk era yet like most expected. But we will see tonite.

i think trey's vision was to re-establish the foundation that built the band in the first place.....the hampton shows represent a starting point and I think the setlists reflect a new launchpad built on the solidity of their original, quirky, costume;

QFT

Think of this weekend as kind of like '90-'92, laying a foundation for the next phase of improv. So hopefully summer will be a new era to match '93-'95.

i could definitely live with that - but if trey is of clear focus and mind, and given that they have previously taken us to the far reaches of the cosmos, sonically, perhaps they now have a road map to somehow go beyond december '95 and nov/dec '97...but I'd take '94 or '95 any day.

i think trey's vision was to re-establish the foundation that built the band in the first place.....the hampton shows represent a starting point and I think the setlists reflect a new launchpad built on the solidity of their original, quirky, costume;

QFT

Think of this weekend as kind of like '90-'92, laying a foundation for the next phase of improv. So hopefully summer will be a new era to match '93-'95.

i could definitely live with that - but if trey is of clear focus and mind, and given that they have previously taken us to the far reaches of the cosmos, sonically, perhaps they now have a road map to somehow go beyond december '95 and nov/dec '97...

They're gonna save that for the West Coast tour.

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Quote from: Trey Anastasio

But, I don't think our fans do happily lap it up, I think they go online and talk about how it was a bad show.

I think everyone is on the same page here.I agree whole heartedly with jedi on this.These seem to be feeler shows.With very little leaving the nest adventure improv.Not bad shows by any means, just nothing special.I'll admit I was excited during the second set hoping some fluid segues were happenning,but there was no real exploring.

It will take time, but you could hear the potential in Ghost, Wolfman's and Weekapaug. I liked the rearranged start to Ghost. Mostly they didn't break out with any new sound, and unfortunately they lack the tighter interplay that defined them in the early 90s. You can hear sloppiness when timing is so important, such as in It's Ice last night and YEM two nights ago. But they definitely are having their moments. It feels like they are trying to get back to the basics, hence the long playlists.